This mod is the release of a mod developed by me initially for the Legendary Edition, now available here also for the Special Edition and Anniversary Edition versions of Skyrim. The .esp is converted to Form 44 format, and all the .NIFs (meshes) and .DDSs (textures) are optimized in the correct ways to run in both SE and AE, requiring absolutely no further work on your part.
When possible, my releases to SE and AE are flagged as .ESLs, which means they don't take up an .ESP slot in the users load order. However, this is not always possible. Below, you can check the three possible scenarios and check which scenario applies to this specific release. Since the other two will be crossed out, and the correct one will be marked in yellow:
The mod is flagged as .ESL, so it won't take up space in your load order, and yet it will be read and executed perfectly by your game;
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, because it has FaceGen data on it, so if it was flagged, whoever is not using the last official updates for SE or AE, including most pirated Skyrim users, will have the NPCs added by this mod having the gray face bug. However, if you have the latest update installed, you can flag this mod as an .ESL using SSEEdit, at your own risk, but generally with no problems;
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, as it requires the use of .SEQ files. In all the tests I did, even regenerating the .SEQ files after flagging the .ESPs as .ESLs, the dialogues stopped working. So, to maintain the integrity of dialogues and even quests added by my mods with .SEQ files, you should not attempt to flag this file under any circumstances, and you should use it in the exact way I made it available for download.
One last comment: there is a common misconception that all LE meshes need to go through NifOptimizer in order to be used in SE or AE, with the most varied arguments defending this, and a few absurdities about what would happen if it wasn't done. This is just another one of the myths that this community believes without any basis, and that it spreads only because it saw many people repeating the same thing. DO NOT OPTIMIZE meshes, neither mine nor any from other mod's. Most meshes are ready to run directly from LE to SE. NifOptimizer should only be used in cases where they DO NOT WORK DIRECTLY WITHOUT BEING OPTIMIZED. Using NifOptimizer indiscriminately without need, and without knowing how to do it correctly, leads to terrible consequences, being able to damage UV's, Normal Maps, the very 3d structure of the models, and much more, in short, causing more problems than the possible problems you could have with 1 in every 100 meshes needing to be optimized, something you would later do manually and individually when proven necessary. JUST DON'T PASS MESHES THROUGH THE NIF OPTIMIZER EXCEPT IF THEY JUST DON'T WORK IN THE SPECIAL EDITION OR ANNIVERSARY EDITION AFTER YOU TESTED THEM YOURSELF FIRST. It's a fact that yes NifOptimizer can solve problems in problematic Nifs, but in this case, and if these Nifs are mine, just contact me and I'll solve the problem for you. If you have really in-depth knowledge of how to correct any negative consequences of using the program on the problematic mesh, that's ok, do it, but if not, just contact me and I'll solve it, since the nif having the problem would be caused by a little oversight of mine while I was producing it, so would be my responsability to fix the problem as well.Unfortunately, because the use of NifOptimizer was recommended in many tutorials as a possible step, a lot of people took it as mandatory, and many fools started to use it as gospel and to convince others, but remember, it's not because it's on the internet that is real. There is absolutely NO such thing as an "old nif format". NiTriShape works perfectly in SE and AE, it is NOT necessary in any way to convert the .nifs to BSTriShape format for them to run smoothly in game, and this messy conversion can even lead you to severe ingame problems. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 paranoids managed to create a legion of players who live in constant panic of corrupting their games, and in an attempt to avoid it, they end up diving into a corruption many times greater, created by themselves, unnecessarily.But don't just take my word for it based on my years of experience and dedication to this activity, listen to Arcane University's own words about it, possibly the best center of studies on modding for The Elder Scrolls available on the internet: (image extracted from the link: https://wiki.beyondskyrim.org/wiki/Arcane_University:NIF_Data_Format)
Play more, have more fun, and let the authors be responsible for the technical condition and functionality of the mods they release. And if you don't trust them enough to use mods without trying to fix what often doesn't need to be fixed, just stop using those mods. Take care, and if you have any doubts, look for me on my Discord server, Mihail
For civilized and educated people, this comment is unnecessary, so just enjoy the mod, and thanks for the support.
For entitled people, however, a message is in order: On youtube I checked the presence of comments criticizing the existence of variants without a leg, calling them impossible, immersion breaking, even ridiculous. Well, this demonstrates a total lack of common sense and even of capacity of observation, after all, I spent a lot of time adjusting the Skeletons' "skeletons" so that the legless variants had a pose when walking compatible with this disability, hanging all their weight on the still present leg, among others factors. Of course, people who criticize just for the sake of criticizing don't waste time seeing this, since their mission is only to criticize. Certainly nobody has to like everything, but when the only thing that certain people do is to put defects on the work of others even though they have never produced anything for the community, then we have a serious problem of entitlement. Until now, there was no damaged skeletons mod, so I think that simply being kind to whoever made one (and a very good one i would say), and learning to praise and appreciate things even when they are not exactly 100% as we would like, instead of always having to say a "I liked it, but...", would be a great evolution for us as a community.
Due to the fact that we are still far from that, any comment made on this page in relation to this, in a rude or entitled way, will have the author of that comment blocked from all my work, and the comment naturally deleted.
There will be no change made to this mod removing the legless variants, neither i allow the change to be made in a patch. The video showcases clearly that they work well, and for me, they are an essential part of the mod. And since my mods follow my modding philosophy, and are made in a way that I like to use in my own game, everything will remain as it is.
It is disappointing that in some cases we as a community have enormous difficulty to simply being glad that someone has taken the time and effort to do something that we have not previously had, and it is also unfortunate that we, also in some cases, but more commonly than i would like, have the pretense of going there constantly to say how the person could have done the job better, especially when we didn't do anything even remotely similar ourselves. Saying how it could be done better, after it has already been done, often ends up sounding very hypocritical and entitled.
Also, you're fighting a reanimated skeleton, realistically, it shouldn't even be moving, either with two legs or just one.
But again, if you are a polite, respectful and mature person, this message is not for you. Enjoy the mod!
Truly wonderful addition. Just tested and can confirm it absolutely works flawlessly with Skeleton Replacer HD.  I've also uploaded screenshots to show each model Mihail has made, which also shows the comparison of how they look with vanilla meshes vs Skeleton Replacer HD.
Particularly like the attention to detail in how the missing limbs causes the skeletons to lean or favor a side for weight distribution. Lovely little detail that I was very pleased to see.
Any thoughts on maybe some sort of hop animation for the ones missing a leg? Not sure how it would work but may be a nice little extra touch. Either way, they're great as is even.
All in all, a great set and welcome addition to diversify the Skele's.
Good morning Mihail! Just wanted to tell.you that for some reason Damaged Skeletons was causing my game to crash when I went to Morthal. I have been playing with the mod for a few weeks now with no issues until last night so it's really strange! I plan in trying to re enable them and test it out tonight. If you want I can link the crash log? :)
Just a heads up for anyone that might experience CTD when using this mod. It appears some animation mods are not compatible with this mod due to the enemies using custom skeletons. For me, they spawn in just fine, but when they attempt to enter combat, my game crashes. Crash log excerpt here: REGISTERS: RAX 0x1E8A4BECA20 (void*) RCX 0x0 (size_t) [0] RDX 0x7FF692B26AFD (void* -> SkyrimVR.exe+0196AFDlea rdi, [rbx+0xE0]) RBX 0x1E8518C5DB0 (Character*) Flags: 0x00000508 kPersistent Name: "Skeleton" FormID: 0xFF001AE1 FormType: ActorCharacter (62) Object Reference: Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized Name: "Skeleton" FormID: 0xFF00200D FormType: NPC (43) Flags: 0x00000508 kInitialized | kMustUpdate | kPersistent FormID: 0xFF001AE1 FormType: ActorCharacter (62) RSP 0x7CECFFF280 (void*) RBP 0x1E885FADC40 (BGSEquipSlot*) File: "Skyrim.esm" Flags: 0x00000009 kDestructible | kInitialized FormID: 0x00013F45 FormType: EquipSlot (120) RSI 0x0 (size_t) [0] RDI 0x0 (size_t) [0] R8 0x7FF693133101 (void* -> SkyrimVR.exe+07A3101sub esp, 0x28) R9 0x0 (size_t) [0] R10 0x1E8A4B231D0 (void*) R11 0x7FFE2E611B75 (void* -> VCRUNTIME140.dll+0001B75) R12 0x1E8A43A1800 (void*) R13 0x1E8518C5DB0 (Character*) Flags: 0x00000508 kPersistent Name: "Skeleton" FormID: 0xFF001AE1 FormType: ActorCharacter (62) Object Reference: Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized Name: "Skeleton" FormID: 0xFF00200D FormType: NPC (43) Flags: 0x00000508 kInitialized | kMustUpdate | kPersistent FormID: 0xFF001AE1 FormType: ActorCharacter (62) R14 0x1E79604FD20 (TESObjectWEAP*) File: "Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp" Modified by: Skyrim.esm -> Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp Flags: 0x00000009 kDestructible | kInitialized Name: "Ancient Nord Battleaxe" FormID: 0x0001CB64 FormType: Weapon (41) GetFullName: "Ancient Nord Battleaxe" R15 0x1E8A4B231D0 (void*) It appears my two handed AXE animation mod is not compatible with this mod. The mod I am using for two handed axes are the default ones provided by MCO and DAR animated armory. Edit this seems to have been fixed by installing "Attack-MCO" and MCO universal support and let it overwrite DAR and Animated Armory
yes, thats why i usually do not recommend using mods that are dependant on vanilla skeletons, this limitates a lot the array of new creature mods you can use.
Ty for the response, I ended up being able to fix it so I can still use the mod. I put the fix in the original comment just in case any else has the issue
Thanks for the great mods, you are awesome man. It's really cool when you are just wandering the world and you meet one of these new, strange enemies, it rly adds to the fun factor. Each adventure is always filled with new encounters and challenging enemies are right around the corner.
Please, if you ever make an update to this mod please make a spell that instead of summon a normal skeleton it will summon 3 random damaged skeletons from this mod, i think it will be a good necromancy spell to over run your enemies with number in game. And thank you for the good work on the mod.
Mihail, my man! I've been using your mods for years at this point and I have to say that I love your work, I've been trying to go for a dark/gritty necromancer playthrough and this is just what I needed. I love all of the diversity your mods add to the game, especially all of your undead monsters.
Hopefully we'll be getting one big combined pack of all your undead creatures, maybe with a fomod so we can pick and choose what to add. I also can't wait for you to finish your zombie mod! Still sad to be missing the rotting maidens and lich ones though, but hopefully you'll remake them too!
Awesome, I'm very much looking forward to it. I really love seeing the improvements you've been making in your modding skills and I can't wait to see what you else you have in store!
112 comments
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, because it has FaceGen data on it, so if it was flagged, whoever is not using the last official updates for SE or AE, including most pirated Skyrim users, will have the NPCs added by this mod having the gray face bug. However, if you have the latest update installed, you can flag this mod as an .ESL using SSEEdit, at your own risk, but generally with no problems;The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, as it requires the use of .SEQ files. In all the tests I did, even regenerating the .SEQ files after flagging the .ESPs as .ESLs, the dialogues stopped working. So, to maintain the integrity of dialogues and even quests added by my mods with .SEQ files, you should not attempt to flag this file under any circumstances, and you should use it in the exact way I made it available for download.JUST DON'T PASS MESHES THROUGH THE NIF OPTIMIZER EXCEPT IF THEY JUST DON'T WORK IN THE SPECIAL EDITION OR ANNIVERSARY EDITION AFTER YOU TESTED THEM YOURSELF FIRST.
It's a fact that yes NifOptimizer can solve problems in problematic Nifs, but in this case, and if these Nifs are mine, just contact me and I'll solve the problem for you. If you have really in-depth knowledge of how to correct any negative consequences of using the program on the problematic mesh, that's ok, do it, but if not, just contact me and I'll solve it, since the nif having the problem would be caused by a little oversight of mine while I was producing it, so would be my responsability to fix the problem as well.Unfortunately, because the use of NifOptimizer was recommended in many tutorials as a possible step, a lot of people took it as mandatory, and many fools started to use it as gospel and to convince others, but remember, it's not because it's on the internet that is real. There is absolutely NO such thing as an "old nif format". NiTriShape works perfectly in SE and AE, it is NOT necessary in any way to convert the .nifs to BSTriShape format for them to run smoothly in game, and this messy conversion can even lead you to severe ingame problems. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 paranoids managed to create a legion of players who live in constant panic of corrupting their games, and in an attempt to avoid it, they end up diving into a corruption many times greater, created by themselves, unnecessarily.But don't just take my word for it based on my years of experience and dedication to this activity, listen to Arcane University's own words about it, possibly the best center of studies on modding for The Elder Scrolls available on the internet: (image extracted from the link: https://wiki.beyondskyrim.org/wiki/Arcane_University:NIF_Data_Format)
Play more, have more fun, and let the authors be responsible for the technical condition and functionality of the mods they release. And if you don't trust them enough to use mods without trying to fix what often doesn't need to be fixed, just stop using those mods.
Take care, and if you have any doubts,
look for me on my Discord server,
Mihail
For civilized and educated people, this comment is unnecessary, so just enjoy the mod, and thanks for the support.
For entitled people, however, a message is in order:
On youtube I checked the presence of comments criticizing the existence of variants without a leg, calling them impossible, immersion breaking, even ridiculous. Well, this demonstrates a total lack of common sense and even of capacity of observation, after all, I spent a lot of time adjusting the Skeletons' "skeletons" so that the legless variants had a pose when walking compatible with this disability, hanging all their weight on the still present leg, among others factors. Of course, people who criticize just for the sake of criticizing don't waste time seeing this, since their mission is only to criticize.
Certainly nobody has to like everything, but when the only thing that certain people do is to put defects on the work of others even though they have never produced anything for the community, then we have a serious problem of entitlement.
Until now, there was no damaged skeletons mod, so I think that simply being kind to whoever made one (and a very good one i would say), and learning to praise and appreciate things even when they are not exactly 100% as we would like, instead of always having to say a "I liked it, but...", would be a great evolution for us as a community.
Due to the fact that we are still far from that, any comment made on this page in relation to this, in a rude or entitled way, will have the author of that comment blocked from all my work, and the comment naturally deleted.
There will be no change made to this mod removing the legless variants, neither i allow the change to be made in a patch. The video showcases clearly that they work well, and for me, they are an essential part of the mod. And since my mods follow my modding philosophy, and are made in a way that I like to use in my own game, everything will remain as it is.
It is disappointing that in some cases we as a community have enormous difficulty to simply being glad that someone has taken the time and effort to do something that we have not previously had, and it is also unfortunate that we, also in some cases, but more commonly than i would like, have the pretense of going there constantly to say how the person could have done the job better, especially when we didn't do anything even remotely similar ourselves. Saying how it could be done better, after it has already been done, often ends up sounding very hypocritical and entitled.
Also, you're fighting a reanimated skeleton, realistically, it shouldn't even be moving, either with two legs or just one.
But again, if you are a polite, respectful and mature person, this message is not for you. Enjoy the mod!

I've also uploaded screenshots to show each model Mihail has made, which also shows the comparison of how they look with vanilla meshes vs Skeleton Replacer HD.
Particularly like the attention to detail in how the missing limbs causes the skeletons to lean or favor a side for weight distribution. Lovely little detail that I was very pleased to see.
Any thoughts on maybe some sort of hop animation for the ones missing a leg? Not sure how it would work but may be a nice little extra touch. Either way, they're great as is even.
All in all, a great set and welcome addition to diversify the Skele's.
EDIT:
Nvm i scrolled and saw your comment lol
REGISTERS:
RAX 0x1E8A4BECA20 (void*)
RCX 0x0 (size_t) [0]
RDX 0x7FF692B26AFD (void* -> SkyrimVR.exe+0196AFDlea rdi, [rbx+0xE0])
RBX 0x1E8518C5DB0 (Character*)
Flags: 0x00000508 kPersistent
Name: "Skeleton"
FormID: 0xFF001AE1
FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
Object Reference:
Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized
Name: "Skeleton"
FormID: 0xFF00200D
FormType: NPC (43)
Flags: 0x00000508 kInitialized | kMustUpdate | kPersistent
FormID: 0xFF001AE1
FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
RSP 0x7CECFFF280 (void*)
RBP 0x1E885FADC40 (BGSEquipSlot*)
File: "Skyrim.esm"
Flags: 0x00000009 kDestructible | kInitialized
FormID: 0x00013F45
FormType: EquipSlot (120)
RSI 0x0 (size_t) [0]
RDI 0x0 (size_t) [0]
R8 0x7FF693133101 (void* -> SkyrimVR.exe+07A3101sub esp, 0x28)
R9 0x0 (size_t) [0]
R10 0x1E8A4B231D0 (void*)
R11 0x7FFE2E611B75 (void* -> VCRUNTIME140.dll+0001B75)
R12 0x1E8A43A1800 (void*)
R13 0x1E8518C5DB0 (Character*)
Flags: 0x00000508 kPersistent
Name: "Skeleton"
FormID: 0xFF001AE1
FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
Object Reference:
Flags: 0x00000008 kInitialized
Name: "Skeleton"
FormID: 0xFF00200D
FormType: NPC (43)
Flags: 0x00000508 kInitialized | kMustUpdate | kPersistent
FormID: 0xFF001AE1
FormType: ActorCharacter (62)
R14 0x1E79604FD20 (TESObjectWEAP*)
File: "Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp"
Modified by: Skyrim.esm -> Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
Flags: 0x00000009 kDestructible | kInitialized
Name: "Ancient Nord Battleaxe"
FormID: 0x0001CB64
FormType: Weapon (41)
GetFullName: "Ancient Nord Battleaxe"
R15 0x1E8A4B231D0 (void*)
It appears my two handed AXE animation mod is not compatible with this mod. The mod I am using for two handed axes are the default ones provided by MCO and DAR animated armory. Edit this seems to have been fixed by installing "Attack-MCO" and MCO universal support and let it overwrite DAR and Animated Armory
Is it possible to remove the fake "evil" eyes? After all, they are ....skeletons, they didn't supposed to have eyeballs.
Hopefully we'll be getting one big combined pack of all your undead creatures, maybe with a fomod so we can pick and choose what to add. I also can't wait for you to finish your zombie mod! Still sad to be missing the rotting maidens and lich ones though, but hopefully you'll remake them too!
and do not worry, soon all the undead will be back, even a themed undead pack.